Horror

[jenkins]

i'm going to see this today

[jenkins]

now, this is common: the beginning is a finely chiseled swan, but it becomes just a stone block by the end. the ending story mechanics involve Tanning Bed Terror, like they knew what they had to do but they weren't thinking too much about how to do it.

that said, i think there are clear eyes on its central theme, which involves fiery satire, and dramatic irony from the main characters not likely to confess that they symbolize the shallow narcissism of contemporary youth culture. as the movie states, their minds are on their numbers. which is crazy. they are people's reaction to Anissa Weier, Morgan Geyser and Slender Man. which means this movie is bleak and critical of its time, thereby in my opinion being a good horror movie, on top of the fact that i think it does a solid job of portraying the personality of its time. this is the thing: the personality of our time changes every year. how very 2015 Dope is now. but if you're going to do it you should do it, and what'll happen by the end is there will be a perfect representation of the fast-shifting landscapes of our current culture, which terrifies people so much that most just ignore. so ace job Tragedy Girls, for speaking of the horrible through a horror movie.

[jenkins]

this shirt's extraordinary level of identity challenge



it's still a Rocky Horror song but that's a pretty good shirt about preferring serious horror movies

[Sleepless]

Pontypool

Low budget production, which overcomes money with great ideas. We don't see any "zombies" for 50 minutes. Instead we're trapped together with crew inside the small local radio station, which is reporting on outbreak. We (as audience) share same confusion and disbelieve with characters: what is going on / is this for real? Much is left to our imagination - nice to see something else than gore fest.

SPOILERS - skip further paragraph if you didn't see a film. What comes next is big mind fuck - it requires a lot of trust from audience. I can see falling it apart easily if questioned too much at that time - it works better if left alone for the time. It explains ambiguous opening, which serves as reminder to "pay attention to words". Pontypool is heavy on allegories, it has social commentary (wink to Romero), which is a bit obscured and abstract. Infected words - some topics avoided in politics? The Herd, "You're shooting at scared people" - political protests? Mixed with mostly ignorant media - radio, which is more interested in shocking than informing.

Pontypool feels very refreshing, definitely worth seeing, even if film doesn't succeed in 100%.

Spoils. This is currently playing on Mubi for their Horrific October. It's pretty good. First half is a bit slow as things start happening away from the studio and the pieces of the puzzle are gradually put together. Honestly, there were moments when it leant a little too heavily on the idea of trying to create a sense of horror from "remote" events that we never actually see. But once the action infects the studio, it gets much better and at times really fucking creepy as words and sounds turn into nonsense as people become infected. If you were unimpressed by A Quiet Place, I recommend this.

[polkablues]

It's legit.

[jenkins]

i know it's outrageous supernaturalism and everything, as in i'm not negating that fact, but i was thinking the other day how entering the horror genre is a rather practical means of establishing aesthetic values

[polkablues]

I'm intrigued. In what sense?

[jenkins]

i had the thought while looking at the box office success of the Conjuring series, which just found success with The Nun. and i've always dabbled in horror, you know, so i know that really the whole genre is predicated upon aesthetics. the creepy environment you know. you can't really create a creepy environment without having your production methods spot on. so there are a lot of nice looking horror movies that still never find critical appeal and yet endure within the genre, again for example the Conjuring series. it's really all aesthetics

[polkablues]

I definitely agree in the case of the Conjuring films and its spinoffs. To me, the best, most lasting horror is always built off of a central metaphor, which the "horror" elements serve to give a face to, to externalize and exaggerate. The Shining has the specter of alcoholism and domestic abuse, The Descent is about grief and betrayal, Triangle is an absolute masters thesis on guilt and self-punishment. The Conjuring flicks don't really have any central metaphor (the core of their message seems to be, "There are scary things in the world, and you should always hire professionals to deal with them"), but they're still highly enjoyable, worthwhile horror films, simply on the strength of the aesthetics and the actual filmmaking craft involved. Even if you don't necessarily have anything to say, you can still make a good horror movie if the WAY you say it is strong enough.

[jenkins]

and really they lost longer than a well-produced drama. how easy it is to demonstrate that with the Universal classic monsters. probably a random person could name, oh, Citizen Kane and Gone with the Wind, but could also name Frankenstein, Dracula, The Mummy, The Wolf Man, and maybe the Creature from the Black Lagoon. probably that same person would shittalk the former and appreciate the latter, re drama vs horror. something inside of them would feel a link with Frankenstein which they wouldn't feel with Citizen Kane, and that's interesting.

[WorldForgot]

Well cuz there's substance & cultural friction in aesthetic!

This conversation tends to worry me, usually, because it implies that horror as a genre can use aesthetic as its crutch, but having read/seen both your work, I feel this is actually appreciation of the genre's ability to craft specific drama -- that is, horror tropes operate on the emotional spectrum that exists apart from exposition. For sure this genre's tropes are the ones placed away from what language can contain. Just as aesthetic is more suggestion, association, than articulated. Wind across your neck, yeah you feel it, the shivers.

[jenkins]

you're picking up what's being laid down

[eward]

It's legit.

Fucking right it’s legit. I got sucked into this so fast I’m still not sure what hit me.

[jenkins]

i clicked to see Get Out at #1 and there it was. i'm glad to see Drag Me to Hell on the list but really it should have been higher. and it seems like my bad that i never saw WWZ.

The 20 Best Horror Films of the Last 20 Years

1. Get Out (2017)
2. Audition (1999)
3. The Blair Witch Project (1999)
4. The Sixth Sense (1999)
5. What Lies Beneath (2000)
6. Hostel: Part II (2007)
7. World War Z (2013)
8. Hereditary (2018)
9. Shaun of the Dead (2004)
10.  Insidious (2010)
11. Ringu (1998)
12. Planet Terror (20070
13. A Quiet Place (2018)
14. Let Me In (2010)
15. The Descent (2005)
16. Paranormal Activity 3 (2011)
17. The Human Centipede 2 (Full Sequence) (2011)
18. The Witch (2015)
19. Drag Me to Hell (2009)
20. The Babadook (2014)

[jenkins]

btw did anyone see this

haunted rv concept, directed by this person, written by the lead actor along with the director and his brother maybe, tbh it took four people to cook this story because this guy too, potential underlooked horror movie or verifiable trash. hopefully one of those and not just lame.